Tribunal warns defence against delaying tactics

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 yesterday asked the defence of former minister Syed Mohammad Qaisar to complete the ongoing cross-examination of the last prosecution witness in 30 minutes today.
The cross-examination of Monowara Begum, the investigator and 32nd prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Qaisar, was held for the fourth day yesterday, and as per the tribunal's directives, the defence was supposed to complete it the very day.
When the defence sought more time, it irked the judges. The three-member tribunal chaired by Justice Obaidul Hassan then asked the defence not to "play tricks" to prolong the proceedings.
On Monday, the tribunal expressed disappointment because of repetitive questions by the defence.
“You will complete the cross-examination between 11:00am and 11:30am [today]. We won't allow you one more minute,” Justice Hassan told the defence.
The tribunal also ordered the prosecution to begin placing arguments after completion of the cross-examination today.
Meanwhile, the prosecution expected that war crimes suspect Sirajul Hauqe alias Siraj Master, who was arrested in Dema Union Parishad area of Bagerhat on Monday night following a June 10 order of the tribunal, would be produced before the tribunal-1 today.

The war crimes investigation agency has been probing the allegations against Siraj Master who was allegedly the deputy commander of Bagerhat Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani army in 1971.